Respect your teachers!

This article will cover:
Teacher Salaries
Quarterly Evaluations for Teachers made Public and the teaching of EVOLUTION versus CREATIONISM in biology class.
I apologize for this post being so scattered, I have a lot of thoughts about this one...

I find it hard to comprehend why so many people have a problem with teachers. And the one's I have met are middle class, white, conservative, christian, republicans-successful people...you'd think they would be particularly happy that their teachers gave them good grades, taught them important skills like math, geography, American history... No, instead there is this almost insane amount of justifiable outrage coming from these people towards teachers for making "too much money". I believe that this is completely a product of some kind of media led brainwashing campaign because the argument falls apart and goes nowhere, yet these people still firmly believe that teachers get paid too much.

TOP 10 REASONS TEACHERS DON'T GET PAID ENOUGH

10.) Your spoiled brat
You know what I am talking about. This is the real problem, no accountability. Parents want kids so they can have a family, but they don't want to put any work in. Then they get pissy with the teacher when the child is still a dumb ass. You can't grow flowers in kitty litter. You need fertile soil. This doesn't just stop when you "grow up". This is another subject altogether. I'll cover it some time later...

9.) A.D.D./A.D.H.D
I know what this is all about since I was diagnosed with it as an adult. Imagine your mind is like a blender and you take your thoughts about what is going on in front of you, what happened yesterday, what you'd rather be doing right now and what would be cool to do later and throw them in the blender and press puree. That is what A.D.D. feels like. You get used to it, but it makes learning hard. Imagine being a teacher and having a student like that. Constantly dazed and daydreaming, drawing and never able to stay focused on what is being discussed. I remember teachers being mad at me constantly. Cutting up in class, making noises, forgetting to put my name on the paper, drawing, not listening... Now imagine a few of those children and one or more of them is hyperactive.

8.) Other Learning Disabilities/Undiagnosed
I have a friend that has this problem. A brilliant guy, but he has Dyslexia. I am not an expert on this one, but really, some students were in a special class for it. Others, like him, were not. There are lots of brain dysfunctions, disorders or whatever that affect the way we take in information, some that are not even known and in situations like that it can be very frustrating for a teacher.

7.) Asperger's
Symptoms of Asperger's. Keep in mind that there are many levels of severity and some students may have Asperger's and not be diagnosed. (Some may have these behaviors and NOT have Asperger's)

-Social awkwardness / no friends
-Obsessions / focused on one subject
-Lack of eye contact
-Sensitivity to noise / touch / feel of clothing
-Slow to begin talking
-Odd speech / extreme logic / very proper speech
-Anger / aggression / hitting others
-Craves ROUTINE!
-Appears lost / in own world
-Flapping hands
-Communication problems or motor skills problems
-Stimming behavior
Now imagine your class has one student that has Asperger's.

6.) Sex
It happened when I was in high school, but what if two of your students were playing doctor during nap time or when you left the room with all the other students cheering them on. It has happened before. Never mind the risk that you could be called a pervert or a sex offender for helping a student of the opposite sex more than they or someone else thinks is appropriate. Or if they make advances or they don't like you and they accuse you of making advances... need I type more?


5.) Bullies
Yay! Bullies! This is no longer just between students. Students are big and bad enough (and stupid enough) to threaten teachers now. I remember one of my bullies made a substitute teacher cry because he said something hateful to her.

4.) One word: Columbine.

3.) Drugs
Yeah as a teacher I imagine you would also have to act as a DEA agent and kids are taking pills now, so imagine one of your students coming to class starts drooling and wheezing and passes out on the floor.

2.) Parents
Parents having different expectations for their children that you have to live up to-especially having 30 students in a classroom means potentially 60 parents. "Trevor is allergic to peanuts", "Conner has got to make a C in order to get a scholarship...", "How come Skylar isn't talking to me?!"...

1.) THE JOB ITSELF
Teaching is not something that just anyone can do, first of all, you have to WANT to teach, then you have to know HOW to teach. If it were easy, we wouldn't have schools, parents would do it. I have been on the receiving end of some really poor teachers and I can tell you for a fact that there are some godawful teachers out there, I'd say that most of them are not actual teachers. My last encounter was someone supposedly teaching me how to do my job, only instead of offering any information, just telling me what to do when it needed to be done. I basically had to teach myself and I only did that because I HAD to learn because I NEEDED a job. First of all you need to know who you are teaching and then you learn how to teach to them. As a teacher, you don't get that luxury, with 30+ students...

EVALUATIONS
They have a VERY important job and it is a VERY difficult job, more so than ever before since teenagers are bringing guns to school. Yes, teachers should be evaluated. We all are evaluated. NO they should not be evaluated 4 times a school year and NO the evaluation should not be made public. I feel that this does little more than cheapen the role of teacher AND whatever respect the students have for their teacher will be lost when all that has to happen is the student behave poorly and not learn and the teacher will be gone and another one will come in.
Children need a role model and a teacher has the power to be one, but this power is taken away from them when the school does not treat teachers with respect. When I worked for the telecommunications industry, I remember when things were getting rough. All of my friends were leaving the company, people were disappearing left and right. We were being micromanaged, I felt like my cubicle was positioned under a microscope. They started evaluating us every week plus any time they noticed we did something they didn't "understand" Supervisors started acting like... well... this:

"Okay you need to do your job harder! I mean REALLY do your job harder!! Do your job or else... we'll have to talk... You are failing miserably... get off the phone! Come with me!"

I didn't feel respected and I eventually just started waiting till the day they would fire me.
At least I was getting paid well for it.

EVOLUTION vs CREATIONISM
I believe that NEITHER one should be taught in public school. They are nothing more than theories. One is based on modern texts and the other one is based on ancient texts, but both require FAITH which is not what public school is for. If it is required to make people happy, then a class on "Origins" should be an elective that you can take where these theories are discussed along with others. Maybe students can take Bio (minus talk about evolution) and their choice of either Origins or Religions of the world.